Readers’ Responses to Our Question (21)

A america latina está passando por uma fase maravilhosa de crescimento do seu PIB; da redução da concentração de riquesas; da redução da pobreza e da indigência; da redução do analfabetismo e das desigualdades sociais, regionais , economicas e políticas.

As Ditaduras Democráticas,corruptas, concentradoras de Poder e da manutenção da discriminação social,com o aumento da pobreza e da indigencia, deram espaço para uma democracia populista e que está dando certo em todos os países da america do sul.

As carencias dos povos latinos americanos era muito grande e essas novas lideranças vislumbraram melhores condições de vida.

O povo latino, por índolo, é muito pacato, critica muito, mas ainda não usa a Arma do Voto, como grande ferramenta para a vibialização do crescimento economico, com a geração de mais empregos e renda.

Mas, através do Mercosul, esses países entenderam a importancia da União para o fortalecimento de um mercado de mais de 300 milhões de habitantes, dois terços (2/3) da população da europa, além de abrirem as fronteiras e conquistarem noivos mercados consumidores.

O jugo do FMI atrapalhou muito essas nações, com a implantação de rígidas políticas monetaristas e fiscais, que só beneficiavam os Esados Unidos, direta ou indiretamente, através do capital especulativo e gerava uma carga insuportável de juros e encargos para esses países e refletia no retardamento do crescimento.

Com o aumento da escolaridade e a familiaridade com a Internet, em rítimo acelerado, os latinos americanos estão conhecendo e vislumbrando um Novo Mundo, com as suas potenciais riquesas naturais e exploradas e que também querem usufruir delas.

A INTERNET, SEM NENHUMA DÚVIDA, SERÁ O GRANDE ELO DE INTEGRAÇÃO E INTERAÇÃO ENTRE NAÇÕES,RICAS E POBRES, COBRANDO DA HUMANIDADE A VALORIZAÇÃO DO CAPITAL HUMANO.

Not exactly a question that has provoked much response over so I think I'll have some fun with it.

The answer is yes, this spells the end to Chavez's leftist policies in Latin America. He now fully understands the errors of his ways as the people have spoken. We can look forward to Chavez adopting an American like conservative approach to the world. Within a year or two Chavez will use some of his countries oil revenues to invade a ME country to depose another nasty leader who is accused of having wmd's, but really doesn't have any. He'll blame it on faulty intelligence (or lack thereof) and then he'll lie about why he did it and tell the world we're all better off as he knows better. The ensuing occupation will drain his countries resources and cost the lives of tens of thousands of people for no acceptable reason. This will allow him to increase the price of his oil as he will disrupt a major ME supplier. It will become obvious this vote will transform Chavez into the Bush of South America. God have mercy on all our souls. I'd rather have Chavez a little pink.

Anybody to comment on "(Wicked) Chavez, Allies Launch Latin American Banco Do Sul" (msnbc.msn.com)?

Venezuelans just lost THEIR REVOLUTION when Chabez
was trying to pull them out of the dark.
Que lastima
God clap his or her hands for you to dance, if you dont, you will never dance again.
VIVA LA REVOLUTION HASTA LA VICTORIA FINAL

Hello,

What an utter shame venezulan and cuban Gov'ts flushed down the drain ????

Something tells me the world will hardly tell the difference except in lack of loony off the wall statements or time wasting UN resolutions.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

regards

ron jacobs is partially correct, but he doesn't go far enough. Democracy cannot exist for long where any special interest can consistantly gain control. That is as true in leftist Central America as it is in "conservative" Wall Street driven America. It is also true of any voting block that has discovered the public purse as a convenient cookie jar to raid whenever it strikes their fancy. Hence, the "public service" employee voting blocks and trheir outrageous pay and benefit packages, sensior citizens and Medicaid, Medicaid, Medicare Plus, prescription drug benefits, "gay rights", feminism and various reserves for them and their lazy idiot allies the "soap opera moms", gun nuts, and on and on. When politcian's discovered they could shatter voters into knee jerk single issue blocks, when "advocacy groups" discovered they could play to the hysterical mob, and make good money doing it, Democracy bit the dust.

Leftism and democracy are not opposites. True democracy can only exist under a government where people's needs come before corporate profits. Unfortunately, Washington and Wall Street have convinced the media that corporate capitalism is synonymous with democracy when the evidence proves that nothing could be further from the truth. Chavez certainly overstepped his bounds by trying to end term limits, but that doesn't spell the end of Bolivarianismo. It means that Bolivarianismo is of the people, not some caudillo like the previous governments in many Latin American countries. The US could learn from the Venezuelan process.

One panelist raised one interesting question that what is the defination of leftist.

If we are talking about the leftist movement of 60s then today south america does not qualify that defination any way.

Even on the peak of leftist movement different comrades have different ideology. As far as south American countries are concerned Venzuela, Chile or Brazil by heart are inspired by americanisation.

The leftist movement in south america therefore having totally different dynamics. it was a war with the system of corruption, un justice and restrictions on civil liberties.

Anti US centiments were the ingredients put inside due to proxy war of Soviet Union and United States. US never bothered to take any account of general public centiments while choosing the sides instead more relied on those brokers who can deliver.

Now I think that no question of leftist or rightist movement is present.

Mr. chavez does not like US Adminstration. He is a vocal opponent of Bush Adminstration, but the defeat he got on margin points only was due to his hunger for obsolute authority. this is a local issue and this is a good day for south america where the people are able to give free verdict and their opinion in honoured.

I also agree with editor's note that this is beginning of new era for south america. we can predict that south america is now moving to a system which is more like france as far as ideology is concerned and on phase at par with US

In future I see more close relation between US next adminstration and Venzuela

The world knows Official America does not like President Hugo Chavez... To be quite clear, America's political leaders, pundits and spokespeople quite generally hate his guts.

Those do not appear to be sufficient reasons, however, for there being so much wishful thinking expressed, here, following that 49% vs 51% "defeat"!

Choosing to ignore 1. who is who, in Venezuela, 2. the massive popular support Chavez has enjoyed, throughout the years, in Venezuela, 3. his accomplishments for the benefit of the people of Venezuela, says much about one's stance, on the right that is, when not on the extreme right of the political spectrum. There is therefore no need to redefine "left" and "right". As a rule of thumb, whoever cannot tell one's left from one's right is not from the left...

Of course, things being as they are, and failing friendly dictators at the helm (the likes of endearing Pinochet and Co.) Official America would undoubtedly prefer to see, everywhere in Latin America, people rather confidently "center-left" (whatever that "neither nor" position is supposed to be), in the hope to see some soothing "trend in Latin America (towards) a strengthening of (that) center-left", wherever it sits. Hocus-pocus, and there you could find your so-called "New Left", "very pragmatic, market-friendly but not slavishly so", akin in fact to your "emerging U.S. Left"... which would be no Left at all! In the current political circumstances, everybody knows that is the "glimmer of light" the U.S. is wishing for.

That by no means implies that what the U.S. wishes for is what the U.S. is getting, though. For as long as Latin America will remain America's economic backyard for U.S. unrestrained exploitation, there will be very strong opposition to U.S. foreign policy in that part of the world, and what some like to call "Leftism" will thrive. No amount of repression, however severe, and for decades (if not centuries) on end, no unlimited number of death squads, not even innumerable victims of our "civilized" barbarism can possibly change that.

For Americans to stubbornly close their eyes on social conditions in Latin America, while keeping silent on the root causes of those appalling, inhuman conditions prevailing, is not a viable option. The emergence of China, India, Brazil, etc. can only give the Left momentum, all over Latin America.

Meanwhile, America would do well to dwell on the demises of its own democracy and of civil liberties at home, as well as on mismanagement and corruption on its very own soil, before it is too late. While at it, it should entrust credible historians of Latin America with the mission to inform the American public, at large, of what History has to teach us all on U.S. involvement in that part of the world. It remains relevant to too many people's lives, and likely to remain so for many, many years to come. The Left will no doubt make sure we know it does. As for the Right, considering today's discussion, one can seriously doubt it ever will.

to Spring Rain:
re Chavez: think about Bush ! People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones ! Bush lost the first election, and got his Dad's friends to fix it. Chavez immediately conceeded his loss. Who's the meglomaniac ?
We are, I can see from many of these comments, just as ignorant, jingoistic, and racist as we've always been. Too bad.

I used to think that we were becoming a better educated, more tolerant country, but this continuous diatribe against anyone from South America (or elsewhere, for that matter) who sees the world any differently than we, only shows us up as the racist, jingoistic, ignorant slobs we've always been.

It's a shame that Chavez didn't have the guts to carry through on his threats to cut off oil shipments to the US. Such an action would, in all likelihood hurt his economy more than ours. Sure he could sell his oil to someone else which would in turn allow that countries current suppliers to sell their oil to us. There may be a strong demand for oil around the world but in the long run the US is a better customer for most oil suppliers than many other countries simply because our economy still out performs most others. So come on Chavez - put up or shut up. Or better yet put up AND shut up. The world is tired of your threats and verbal assaults on anyone who doesn't bow to your wishes and join your little anti-US party. Clearly even your voters don't trust you and aren't going to buy into your dictator for life scheme. This isn't a case about leftism but rather a case of a country ready to move forward abd trying to escape the strangle hold of a petty, egotistical little man.

No, Latin leftism is not dead! Next time around in Mexico, Manuel Lopez Obrador may just win. As it is, it seems that he lost a Florida-style election (as in year 2000). Venezuela came very close to winning, and may well win a Chavista-style program next time. The US, with its history of minority voting numbers "winning" elections has absolutely no right, or competence, to lecture the rest of this hemisphere on electoral democracy.

US-style capitalism, courtesy the IMF and the World Bank, along with the usual multinationals,have failed miserably after decades of promising real rising incomes at the lower levels of Latin American societies. They have failed miserably. Just as the right has failed miserably here in this country. Change for the vast majority cannot come soon enough.

The history of US-Latin American relations is replete with examples of American meddling in their elections. The degree of US involvement in this election will be revealed later. The fact that President Chavez has remained in power to pursue a program of social justice in spite of US intervention in Venezuelan affairs is amazing. The fact that Bolivia and now Nicaragua now have newly elected progressive governments shows that the pendulum of history is swinging in favor of social justice in Latin America. Viva Chavez!

Latin American leftism will continue to survive, and even grow, due to the disparities in wealth, the abuses of power by past conservative (sometimes military regimes), and America's bumbling attempts to show Latin Americans that leftism is bad. Castro remains a popular, romantic figure in many counries, including Brazil, despite not allowing anyone else to rule for nearly 50 years (is there really no one else capable of running Cuba? really a slam on his own people), so why disapprove of Chavez's attempts to stay inpower forever? The U.S. will pay attention to Latin American regimes when they seem to represent a threat or offer benefits in terms of commodities. Americans largely do not give a damn (e.g., few Americans know the role of the U.S. in helping the Brazilian military take power in 1964, and fewer still care). Latin American leftism will thrive in the absence of an attractive alternative. Regimes America has favored have often been dictatorial (e.g., Pinochet, Brazilian generals, Batista in Cuba) and/or corrupt (e.g., Collor in Brazil). No winners here.

Yonkers, New York
06 December 2007

Hugo Chavez loses 49 to 51% in the last Sunday's referendum and you flippantly jump to the conclusion that leftism is dead in Latin America?

The rational and correct conclusion which can be drawn here is that democracy is not dead in Venezuela--not yet anyway!

The reality is that the drift toward "leftism" is gaining momentum throughout Latin America and Hugo Chavez's narrow loss does not warrant the conclusion that it has stopped dead on its tracks.

Hugo Chavez deserves a lot of credit for not having rigged last Sunday's referendum. He likewise deserves credit for getting 49% of Venezuelan voters to support him on those 69 amendments he seeks to the Constitution. The Venezuelan people and many other millions of Latin Americans will respect Hugo Chavez for these.

It is safe to assume that Hugo Chavez is not one to give up too easily. Knowing that he already has the support of 49% of Venezuelan voters for his proposed constitutional amendments, he knows that all he needs to win next time around is an additional 3%--for a total of 52%.

There is a very good chance that even now he is already on a determined campaign, overt and covert, to get more than the minimum of 3% he needs next time around.

With his unabashedly populist policies, which are possible because of Venezuela's huge oil revenues, he is bound to win over to his side more Venezuelans who are at the bottom rungs of the country's economic and social totem pole.

It will clearly be a mistake to count Hugo Chavez out.

The other mistake is to jump to the conclusion that "leftism" is on the wane in Latin America.

Mariano Patalinjug
MarPatalinjug@aol.com

Leftism in Latin America has allways been used by politics to their benefit. They have allways cheated people with their utopic ideas of leftism, which are good, but very utopical and impossible to make a reality.
People then follow them , give power to the power in the "Peronists" style. America had a huge influence for this back in the 70s when they promoted and encourage dictatorships like Argentina's and Chile's.(there are reports from the freedom of information act, that state this). As usual, America's foreign policy produces long-term disasters while solving inmediate issues.
Back to the subject..., poor aren't stupid, but leftists are, and they are the easiest mass of population that can be driven to do anything, blind faith, to do even a coup d'etat. Afterall, if things go wrong, they can allways blame it to imperialist america. hehehe

Leftism in Latin America has allways been used by politics to their benefit. They have allways cheated people with their utopic ideas of leftism, which are good, but very utopical and impossible to make a reality.
People then follow them , give power to the power in the "Peronists" style. America had a huge influence for this back in the 70s when they promoted and encourage dictatorships like Argentina's and Chile's.(there are reports from the freedom of information act, that state this). As usual, America's foreign policy produces long-term disasters while solving inmediate issues.
Back to the subject..., poor aren't stupid, but leftists are, and they are the easiest mass of population that can be driven to do anything, blind faith, to do even a coup d'etat. Afterall, if things go wrong, they can allways blame it to imperialist america. hehehe

This concerted attack against Chavez by 4 journalists, surely, due to a purely sort of bad luck ... right? Chavez accessed to power in Venzuela chosen by more than 7 million Venezuelans, and that for this "democratic" pannelist means nothing.

Has anybody got the ...guts...to call ex-rep Joe Kennedy and ask him if he is..if you will...still in love with Chavez? Dont you remember his commercial for his ...no federal taxes...citizens oil company??

To the Venezuelans, and South Americans in general Chavez HAD a lot of good will; he did in fact stand up to the "bullying" US, and his country has the one and only means- oil - to mute opposition to his bloviating and intensely irritating braggadocio ways, plus, he stood up for the poor and the unheard, Peronista style, and that only increased his stature in the Spanish-speaking world and to the have-nots in his own country.

But the problem with Chavez has turned out to be this: CHAVEZ IS CHAVEZ' OWN WORST ENEMY. He now believes his own myths, and is turning, slowly at first, but with decreasing support, more purposefully towards becoming that staple of South American politics: THE MEGALOMANIAC DICTATOR.

The turning point, I believe, was the King of Spain's remarks to him which have now gone cultist-showing up as a ring tone on cell phones in Spain and elsewhere: "Why don't you shut up?" Chavez can't seem to do that- ever, to HIS great detriment.

People don't want a laughing stock, someone who is the constant butt of jokes, a hot air bag of running Marxist commentary and a lightening rod of controversy around the world as their leader: It would be ONE thing if Chavez were simply put down by the US and the Prez-there, Chavez gains stature by being anti-US, but here, the US has been pretty smart: IGNORE CHAVEZ, WHICH WILL GET HIM TO BLOVIATE AND RAIL EVEN MORE AGAINST THE US, SIDE WITH OTHER OUTLAW COUNTRIES LIKE IRAN, AND EVENTUALLY, THE REST OF THE WORLD, BUT MOST PARTICULARLY, THE SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD, WILL GET TIRED OF HIS INCREASINGLY MEGALOMANIAC AND NON-STOP NEGATIVE BLOVIATING WAYS AND WANT HIM OUT OF THEIR HAIR AS WELL.

Can you spell: C-O-U-P?

Chavez could learn a LOT from Castro-no bloviator he!